Commissioner Charges Nigerians On Innovative Education

Nigerians have been urged to take university education seriously because no nation has sustainably reduced poverty without investing strategically in an all-inclusive and innovative-driven higher education system.

The Kwara State commissioner for education and human capital development, Dr Lawal Olohungbebe, stated this while delivering the second matriculation lecture of the African School of Economics (The Pan-African University of Excellence), Abuja.

Olohungbebe said higher education had historically been a pathway to personal advancement but it must today also serve as a driver of national development and a weapon against poverty.

While identifying poverty trap as a mixed bag of low productivity and low income that bring about no savings and no investment, the commissioner noted that university education plays a crucial role in poverty eradication through values, ethics and leadership, knowledge and skills for economic productivity, entrepreneurship and job creation, research and innovation for local action as well as equity and access.

Apart from highlighting the challenges limiting the impact of university education as mismatch between curriculum and labour market needs, underfunding of research and infrastructure, weak linkages between academia and industry as well as emphasis on practical and technical skills, the commissioner commended the African School of Economics for its emphasis of developing Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs).